


The Tale of Why They Walk Taemin to School

by Taemintchocolate



Category: K-pop, SHINee
Genre: Everyone wants to protect Taemin, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Other, Platonic Relationships, just cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 10:08:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17041742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taemintchocolate/pseuds/Taemintchocolate
Summary: Basically exactly what the title says. It’s inspired by a photo I saw ages ago of the boys walking Taemin to/from school. They all wanna protect him because Taemin deserves exactly 0 sadness in his life.





	The Tale of Why They Walk Taemin to School

**Author's Note:**

> This was written two years ago and has been in my notes ever since but in light of what tomorrow is, I decided to post it and give y’all something that might make you smile. It’s a bit cringe partly because I wrote it so long ago so it kind of sucks and also plotwise its kind of cringe but cute nonetheless.

Taemin was sniffling as he walked through the door, hugging himself before putting his bag down beside the door and taking his shoes off. He didn't see anyone around, he was a little happy about that because it meant he didn't have to tell any of the members about what happened. That was before Kibum walked into the room.

"Taemin! Did you-" Kibum started, but then he saw the look on his face and he immediately rushed over.  
"What's wrong? Did you have a bad day? What happened? Sit down..." He tugged Taemin over to the sofa, his caring attitude just caused the younger boy to start crying properly.  
"Oh no..." Kibum hugged him gently, it was just them for a little while before the others came in after hearing that the youngest was home. They all had a similar sort of reaction. 

"Taemin! Don't cry! I’ll make it better!" Jinki rushed to the kitchen, Jonghyun following close behind so he could stop him from hurting himself because of the leader's clumsiness. Minho sat on Taemin's other side, putting an arm around him as his sobs started to soften and he was just shaking a little. Kibum wouldn't let go of him, so Minho went to get the tissues and bring them over. Taemin thanked him softly, drying his eyes with his shaky hands. Everyone soon joined them in the room, Jonghyun and Jinki had made tea and even brought the maknae's favourite cookies through, even though he wasn't really supposed to eat them that often. They had decided that they could make an exception this time. 

"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Jonghyun asked quietly, putting a hand on his knee gently. Taemin smiled a little at the treatment, it was the first time he'd smiled since he came home.  
"Okay..." He murmured, taking a deep breath so that he didn't cry again.  
"Well...we had swimming today, and I'm not good at swimming so I got put in the shallow end with most of the girls, I didn't think it was that bad since I talk to some of them..." He started, fidgeting with the tissue in his hands.  
"All of the other boys started making fun of me because I couldn't swim like them and I was the only boy in the shallow end but I ignored them...then when we had English, I got an answer wrong but I said it to the whole class so everyone knew and no one really cared apart from them..." More tears started falling now, Kibum was about to tell him that he didn't need to carry on, but Taemin did exactly that before he could say anything.  
"Then after school, they all followed me and kept saying stuff about it and when I told them to leave me alone, it only made it worse...they stopped when I turned the corner to get to the dorm, and that brings us to now...I know it's stupid but they embarrassed me and laughed at me..." His voice got all shaky, as if he was going to cry again but he was trying his best not to. 

"It's not stupid!" Kibum exclaimed.  
"They upset you, anything that upsets you is not stupid! You have every right to be sad. It's okay..." He hugged Taemin tighter, rubbing his back. The youngest hugged back, hiding his face in Kibum’s neck.  
"Kibum is right, it's okay that you're hurt because of this...trust me, any of us would be." Jonghyun smiled softly, Taemin nodding as Kibum eventually let go of him.  
"Here, eat and have tea, we'll watch a movie together!" Jinki smiled, heading to the DVD player and brought the pile of DVD's over. Taemin chose the same movie he always did, which was Finding Nemo. No one ever complained though, and they all watched it together. He forgot all about his bad day, happily drinking tea and eating with his best friends. 

He was happy all weekend, but then it got to Monday morning. 

Kibum woke Taemin up like he always did, gently shaking him to get up. He groaned softly, but left his bed around five minutes after Kibum left the room. He put his uniform on and did his usual routine before heading downstairs. He frowned when he saw everyone dressed and not in their pyjamas. He then decided that they must have an early schedule or something, and sat down next to Minho and ate his breakfast that Kibum had cooked specially for him. Once he finished, he went upstairs to brush his teeth and when he came back down, everyone was getting ready to go out. Taemin frowned again, grabbing his bag and putting his shoes on.

"Where are you guys going? You don't usually go out the same time as me..." He finally decided to ask, because he was completely and utterly confused.  
"We're going to walk to school with you and walk back with you in the afternoon." Jinki smiled.  
"You don't have to..." He said quietly, he didn't want them to have to go all the way to school with him, then all the way back.  
"We want you to be happy at school, you don't deserve to come home crying because of what people say to you and about you." Minho explained, Taemin nodding in agreement. They all headed out of the door, walking with him and making him laugh. When they arrived at the school gate, Taemin's smile faded a little but Kibum quickly spoke.

"We'll see you after school! We'll bring you your snack too, okay? Have fun." He smiled and hugged him, as did the other members. Taemin was definitely in a better mood after that, walking into the school grounds, waving at them as he did. They waved until he walked into the school, and Taemin went about his day normally. 

The other guys had been bothering Taemin again. It mostly happened at lunch when he was by himself, but he didn't really mind because sometimes he preferred to be alone. He could hear them trying to get his attention but he did his best to ignore it, then the girls that were in his swimming class came over. 

"Hey Taemin! What's up?" They shoved through the group of boys and sat around him, he smiled then and looked up at them.  
"Hi!" He grinned, they all started talking happily about random things and soon, the guys cleared off since they didn't want to make a fool of themselves in front of the girls. Typical boys, but it worked to his advantage. 

Taemin's day automatically got better, and by the time he got out of school, he wasn't able to wipe the smile from his face, especially when his group was waiting for him with a big bottle of apple juice and a packet of mini cookies. 

"Hey Taemin! How was school?" Jinki smiled, handing him the juice.  
"It was fun! I got new friends and all of the boys left me alone!" He grinned, taking the bottle.  
"Aw, that's so good! We're so happy for you!" They all hugged him individually, before Jonghyun handed him the packet of cookies after opening them for him. Taemin said thank you, then proceeded to share them out between them all. There was one left over, and naturally, Taemin got it even though he was determined to split it five ways. This was his favourite part of the day, walking home with the members and sharing food. He was thankful to have such caring people in his life, they were like a family to him as well as a multitude of other things. Sometimes he wondered how he got so lucky.


End file.
